John Coutis speaks to Chatham High School students

Encouraging youth: John Coutis spoke to all Chatham High School students on his visit to Taree. Photo: Rob Douglas.

Inspiring people to be the best they can be.

This is the mantra of motivational speaker John Coutis, who visited Chatham High School on Tuesday, March 6 to speak to students about achieving and setting goals.

“I come to the schools and what I want to do is offer hope, teach resilience, get these kids thinking about themselves, have a bit of goal-setting and anti-bullying,” Mr Coutis said.

Mr Coutis said it is of great importance that people based in regional areas be inspired to achieve any goals they set.

“One of the things I love to do the most is come out to the regional areas where the students, the teachers and even the parents get to experience motivational and inspirational things like this.

“I want to tell these guys because they live in a country town, it doesn’t mean they don’t have to achieve anything.

“They don’t live in Taree or the Manning region, they live in Australia.

“These guys can achieve what they want to achieve if they set their mind to it with a little bit of hard work.

“It’s about appreciating yourselves and appreciating your friends and family around you,” Mr Coutis said.

Several of the school leaders attended a leadership program earlier this year where they heard Mr Coutis speak.

This encouraged them to have Mr Coutis speak to all students.

The approval of Mr Coutis’ speaking doesn't stop there.

“The feedback on my social media has been unbelievable,” Mr Coutis said.

Mr Coutis has held similar sessions at more than 50 schools across NSW in the past six weeks and is set to embark on a tour of Western Australia.

He was born with a severe disability that rendered him a double amputee.

Nothing slows him down however, as he is able to move around with the help of a skateboard.

He has delivered speeches to more than six million people worldwide and is credited for inspiring the likes of Olympic athletes and Australian rugby union players. To find out more about his incredible story, visit www.johncoutis.com.